Global rise in unemployment

Citing annual figures from the International Labor Organization (ILO), the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung on Monday said that even more than five years after the onset of the global financial crisis, the situation on the labor market was alarming in many regions.

According to ILO estimates, more than 202 million people across the globe were out of work in 2013, some five million more than in the previous year.

The steep rise in joblessness started back in 2008 when financial markets collapsed. ILO officials were quoted as saying that unemployment levels would surge even further, with the number of jobless people expected to reach 215 million by 2018.

Budgetary constraints to blame?

The ILO report that labor markets in East and Southeast Asia were most affected by the renewed rise in unemployment, but the negative trend was also felt in many regions in Africa and southern Europe.

All over the globe young people kept suffering most from the crisis, with 74.5 million people aged between 15 and 24 out of work last year, up another million people from the levels reached in 2012.

ILO singled out a stubborn lack of domestic demand in many regions as a root cause for the alarming situation. It said domestic consumption continued to be heavily dented because of national government's austerity measures aimed at consolidating budgets and reining in public spending.